Potato cultivar FL 2027

ABSTRACT

A novel potato cultivar of the genus and species  Solanum tuberosum,  designated FL 2027, is disclosed. The invention relates to the tubers of potato variety FL 2027, to the plants of potato variety FL 2027, to the seeds of potato variety and to methods for producing hybrid potato variety. The invention further relates to potato variety tubers, seeds and plants produced by crossing the potato variety FL 2027 with another potato plant, and to Single Gene Converted plants.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a novel potato variety and to thetubers, plants, plant parts, tissue culture and seeds produced by thatpotato variety.

The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate thebackground of the invention and, in particular cases, to provideadditional details respecting the practice, are incorporated byreference and for convenience, are referenced in the following text byauthor and date and are listed alphabetically by author in the appendedbibliography.

The potato is the world's fourth most important food crop and by far themost important vegetable. Potatoes are currently grown commercially innearly every state of the United States. Annual potato productionexceeds 18 million tons in the United States and 300 million tonsworldwide. The popularity of the potato derives mainly from itsversatility and nutritional value. Potatoes can be used fresh, frozen ordried, or can be processed into flour, starch or alcohol. They containcomplex carbohydrates and are rich in calcium, niacin and vitamin C.

To keep the potato industry growing to meet the needs of the consumingpublic, substantial research and development efforts are devoted to themodernization of planting and harvesting of fields and processing ofpotatoes, and to the development of economically advantageous potatovarieties. Through crossbreeding of potatoes, researchers hope to obtainpotatoes with the desirable characteristics of good processability, highsolids content, high yield, resistance to diseases and pests andadaptability to various growing areas and conditions.

The U.S. acreage planted in potatoes has declined since the 1960s and1970s, and this decline, coupled with increasing consumption, must beoffset by higher useable yields. In some areas, diseases and pestsdamage crops despite the use of herbicides and pesticides. The problemof the golden nematode in the United States, presently endemic toportions of New York State, is one example of the destruction tosusceptible potato varieties. Potato varieties with high yields, diseaseresistance and adaptability to new environments can eliminate manyproblems for the potato grower and provide more plentiful and economicalproducts to the consumers.

For the potato chip processing industry, potatoes having high solidscontent, good shipping qualities and good finished chip color canincrease production volumes and efficiencies and product acceptability.Potato varieties which yield low-solids tubers result in unnecessaryenergy usage during the frying process. Moreover, as solids contentincreases, the oil content of fried products decreases, which is afavorable improvement. Potato varieties in the warm southern tier ofstates are most in need of solids improvement overall, while thosevarieties grown and stored in the colder northern tier of states aremost in need of the ability to recondition after cool or cold storage toincrease their value for use in the potato chip industry. Reconditioningis necessary to elevate the temperature of the potatoes after coldstorage and before further processing.

The research leading to potato varieties which combine the advantageouscharacteristics referred to above is largely empirical. This researchrequires large investments of time, manpower, and money. The developmentof a potato cultivar can often take up to eight years or more fromgreenhouse to commercial usage. Breeding begins with careful selectionof superior parents to incorporate the most important characteristicsinto the progeny. Since all desired traits usually do not appear withjust one cross, breeding must be cumulative.

Present breeding techniques continue with the controlled pollination ofparental clones. Typically, pollen is collected in gelatin capsules forlater use in pollinating the female parents. Hybrid seeds are sown ingreenhouses, and tubers are harvested and retained from thousands ofindividual seedlings. The next year a single tuber from each resultingseedling is planted in the field, where extreme caution is exercised toavoid the spread of virus and diseases. From this first-year seedlingcrop, several “seed” tubers from each hybrid individual which survivedthe selection process are retained for the next year's planting. Afterthe second year, samples are taken for density measurements and frytests to determine the suitability of the tubers for commercial usage.Plants which have survived the selection process to this point are thenplanted at an expanded volume the third year for a more comprehensiveseries of fry tests and density determinations. At the fourth-year stageof development, surviving selections are subjected to field trials inseveral states to determine their adaptability to different growingconditions. Eventually, the varieties having superior qualities aretransferred to other farms and the seed increased to commercial scale.Generally, by this time, eight or more years of planting, harvesting andtesting have been invested in attempting to develop the new and improvedpotato cultivars.

Long-term, controlled-environment storage has been a feature of thenorthern, principal producing areas for many years. Potatoes harvestedby October must be kept in good condition for up to eight months intemperatures that may drop to −30 degrees C. at times and with very lowrelative humidity in the outside air. Storages are well insulated, notonly to prevent heat loss but also to prevent condensation on outsidewalls. The circulation of air at the required temperature and humidityis automatically controlled depending on the purpose for which thepotatoes are being stored. Sprout inhibition is now largely carried outin storage as it has been found to be more satisfactory than theapplication of maleic hydrazide (MH30) in the field.

Proper testing of new plants should detect any major faults andestablish the level of superiority or improvement over currentvarieties. In addition to showing superior performance, a new varietymust be compatible with industry standards or create a new market. Theintroduction of a new variety will increase costs of the tuberpropagator, the grower, processor and consumer; for special advertisingand marketing, altered tuber propagation and new product utilization.The testing preceding release of a new variety should take intoconsideration research and development costs as well as technicalsuperiority of the final variety. Once the varieties that give the bestperformance have been identified, the tuber can be propagatedindefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the variety parent ismaintained.

For tuber propagated varieties, it must be feasible to produce, storeand process potatoes easily and economically.

Thus, there is a continuing need to develop potato cultivars whichprovide good processability out of storage, with minimal bruising, formanufacturers of potato chips and other potato products and to combinethis characteristic with the properties of disease resistance,resistance to pests. The present invention addresses this need byproviding the new variety as described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a novel potato cultivar ofthe genus and species, Solanum tuberosum, designated FL 2027. Thisinvention thus relates to the tubers of potato variety FL 2027, theplants and plant parts of potato variety FL 2027 and to methods forproducing a potato plant produced by crossing the potato variety FL 2027with itself or another potato variety. This invention further relates tohybrid potato seeds and plants produced by crossing the potato varietyFL 2027 with another potato plant.

In another aspect, the present invention provides for Single GeneConverted plants of FL 2027. The single gene transferred may be adominant or recessive allele. Preferably, the single gene transferredwill confer such traits as herbicide resistance, insect resistance,resistance for bacterial, fungal or viral disease, uniformity andincrease in concentration of starch and other carbohydrates, decrease intendency of tuber to bruise and decrease in the rate of conversion ofstarch to sugars. The single gene transferred may be a naturallyoccurring gene or a transgene introduced through genetic engineeringtechniques.

DEFINITIONS

In the description and tables which follow, a number of terms are used.In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of thespecification and claims, including the scope to be given such terms,the following definitions are provided:

-   -   FL Solids. Percentage of solid matter contained in tubers. FL        Solids=(178.093×Specific Gravity)−175.560.    -   Solid/Acre. Marketable yield (in pounds)×FL Solids.    -   Total Yield. Total weight of all harvested tubers.    -   Marketable Yield. Weight of all tubers harvested that are        between 2 and 4 inches in diameter; Measured in cwt (hundred        weight)        -   cwt=100 pounds    -   Vine Maturity. Plants ability to continue to utilize        carbohydrates and photosynthesize. Scale of 1 to 5.1=dead vines        5=vines green, still flowering.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A novel potato cultivar of the present invention, which has beendesignated FL 2027, has been obtained by selectively crossbreedingparental clones through several generations. These parents were selectedas breeding parents because of their high yields, excellent chip coloroff the field and out of storage, and resistance to hollow heart.

FL 2027 has early to mid-season chipping variety with light yellowfleshed compressed tubers. FL 2027 has outstanding attributes thatcontribute to excellent chip appearance, and good flavor.

The chip appearance, manufacturing efficiency and consumer acceptabilityhave been equal or superior to checks.

FL 2027 has been uniform and stable since its origin as a single plantin 1995. No variants of FL 2027 have been observed.

As a chipping variety for fresh use from early to mid season harvestsand use out of storage, FL 2027 is most similar to Atlantic. FL 2027 canbe distinguished from Atlantic with regard to the following traits: FL2027 tubers have light grayed-yellow skin (RHS162D) and evenlydistributed eyes, Atlantic has brown skin (RHS 199B) and predominantlyapical eyes. FL 2027 has smaller leaf stipules and a higher averagenumber of leaflet pairs than Atlantic. It also has a pentagonal corollaand no color in the calyx, while Atlantic has a rotate corolla andmedium color in its calyx. The sprouts of FL 2027 tend to be sphericalin shape and pale blue violet in color. Atlantic's sprouts are moreconical in shape and very dark blue violet in color.

In addition to the morphological characteristics and disease and pestresistance as described above, the plants of this invention arecharacterized by their protein “fingerprint” patterns. The protein“fingerprint” is determined by separating tuber proteins on anelectrophoretic gel under certain defined conditions. The pattern of theproteins, attributable to their differential mobilities on theelectrophoretic gel, have been found to be characteristic of theparticular plant involved. This pattern has thus been termed a“fingerprint.” Isozyme fingerprints of all available North Americanpotato varieties have revealed that no two varieties have the samepattern for the enzymes tested. (Douches and Ludlam, 1991). The isozymefingerprint of FL 2027 has been established as distinct from that of anyother variety tested, including Atlantic (Douches and Ludlam, 1991).These techniques generally involve extracting proteins from the tuberand separating them electrophoretically.

Potato variety FL 2027 has the following morphologic and othercharacteristics.

Variety Description Information

Classification: Solanum Tuberosum L.

Plant characteristics: (Observed at beginning of bloom) Growth habit:Semi-erect (30-45° with ground) Type: Intermediate Maturity: 110-120days after planting (DAP) at vine senescence Planting Date: Mar. 1, 2002Region Area: Charleston, MO Maturity Class: Early to Mid-season StemCharacteristics: (Observed at early first bloom) Stem (anthocyaninAbsent coloration): Stem (wings): Weak

Leaf Characteristics: (Observed fully developed leaves located in themiddle one-third of plant): Leaf (color): Medium green - RHS 146A Leaf(pubescence density): Sparse to Medium Leaf (pubescence length) MediumLeaf (silhouette): Open Leaf stipules (size): Small Petioles(anthocyanin coloration): Absent Terminal leaflet (shape): Medium/ovateTerminal leaflet (shape of tip): Acuminate Terminal leaflet (shape ofbase): Truncate Terminal leaflet (margin waviness): Medium Primaryleaflets (average pairs): 5 Primary leaflets (shape of tip): AcuminatePrimary leaflets (size): Medium Primary leaflets (shape): Medium ovatePrimary leaflets (shape of base): Cordate to Truncate Number of leaflets(secondary and tertiary): 6

Inflorescence Characteristics: Number of inflorescence/plant:  8.5Number of florets/inflorescence: 13.4 Corolla (shape): PentagonalCorolla (inner surface color): White - 155A RHS Corolla (outer surfacecolor): Violet - 84D RHS (fades to white quickly) Calyx (anthocyanincoloration): Absent Anthers (color): Yellow/Orange - 14A RHS Anthers(shape): Broad cone Pollen (production): Sparse Stigma (shape): CapitateStigma (color): Yerllow/Green - 146A RHS Berry (production): Low

Tuber Characteristics: Skin (predominant color): Light yellow - 162D RHSSkin (secondary color): Absent Skin (texture): Smooth to Rough Tuber(shape): Compressed Tuber (thickness): Slightly flattened Tuber length(mm): 70.2 Tuber width (mm): 50.2 Tuber thickness (mm): 31.5 Tuber eyes(depth): Intermediate Tuber eyes (lateral): Shallow Tuber eyes (number):10.5 Tuber eyes (distribution): Evenly distributed Tuber (primary fleshcolor): Greyed yellow 160D RHS Tuber (prominence of eyebrows): Slightprominence

FL 2027 Atlantic FL Solids/ Total Mrkt Vine FL Solids/ Total Mrkt VineTrial for 2001 Solids Acre Yield Yield Maturity Solids Acre Yield YieldMaturity Rhinelander 17.3 3062 258 177 4 18.2 3640 252 200 2 Trial(early) Rhinelander 17.5 5180 321 296 3 18.2 5808 373 309 3 Trial (mid)E. Nebraska 16.8 3814 287 227 3 17.5 3780 257 216 4 Trial

Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that when the termpotato plant is used in the context of the present invention, this alsoincludes derivative varieties that retain the essential distinguishingcharacteristics of FL 2027, such as a Single Gene Converted plant ofthat variety or a transgenic derivative having one or more value-addedgenes incorporated therein (such as herbicide or pest resistance.Backcrossing methods can be used with the present invention to improveor introduce a characteristic into the variety. The term backcrossing asused herein refers to the repeated crossing of a hybrid progeny back tothe recurrent parents. The parental potato plant which contributes thegene for the desired characteristic is termed the nonrecurrent or donorparent. This terminology refers to the fact that the nonrecurrent parentis used one time in the backcross protocol and therefore does not recur.The parental potato plant to which the gene or genes from thenonrecurrent parent are transferred is known as the recurrent parent asit is used for several rounds in the backcrossing protocol. In a typicalbackcross protocol, the original variety of interest (recurrent parent)is crossed to a second variety (nonrecurrent parent) that carries thesingle gene of interest to be transferred. The resulting progeny fromthis cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parent and theprocess is repeated until a potato plant is obtained wherein essentiallyall of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics ofthe recurrent parent are recovered in the converted plant, in additionto the single gene transferred from the nonrecurrent parent.

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for asuccessful backcrossing procedure. The goal of a backcross protocol isto alter or substitute a single trait or characteristic in the originalvariety. To accomplish this, a single gene of the recurrent variety ismodified, substituted or supplemented with the desired gene from thenonrecurrent parent, while retaining essentially all of the rest of thedesired genes, and therefore the desired physiological and morphologicalconstitution of the original variety. The choice of the particularnonrecurrent parent will depend on the purpose of the backcross. One ofthe major purposes is to add some commercially desirable, agronomicallyimportant trait to the plant. The exact backcrossing protocol willdepend on the characteristic or trait being altered or added todetermine an appropriate testing protocol. Although backcrossing methodsare simplified when the characteristic being transferred is a dominantallele, a recessive allele may also be transferred. In this instance, itmay be necessary to introduce a test of the progeny to determine if thedesired characteristic has been successfully transferred.

Likewise, transgenes can be introduced into the plant using any of avariety of established recombinant methods well-known to persons skilledin the art, such as: Gressel, 1985, Biotechnologically ConferringHerbicide Resistance in Crops: The Present Realities, In Molecular Formand Function of the plant Genome, L van Vloten-Doting, (ed.), PlenumPress, New York; Huttner, S. L., et al., 1992, Revising Oversight ofGenetically Modified Plants. Bio/Technology; Klee, H., et al., 1989,Plant Gene Vectors and Genetic Transformation: Plant TransformationSystems Based on the use of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Cell Culture andSomatic Cell Genetics of Plants; Koncz, C., et al.,1986, The Promoter ofT_(L)-DNA Gene 5 Controls the Tissue-Specific Expression of ChimericGenes Carried by a Novel Type of Agrobacterium Binary Vector; Molecularand General Genetics; Lawson, C., et al., 1990, Engineering Resistanceto Mixed Virus Infection in a Commercial Potato Cultivar: Resistance toPotato Viruses X and Potato Virus Y in Transgenic Russet Burbank,Bio/Technology, Mitsky, T. A., et al., 1996, Plants Resistant toInfection by PLRV. U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,253; Newell, C. A., et al.,1991,Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Solanum tuberosum L. Cv. RussetBurbank, Plant Cell Reports; Perlak, F. J., et al., 1993, GeneticallyImproved Potatoes: Protection from Damage by Colorado Potato Beetles,Plant Molecular Biology, all of which are specifically incorporatedherein by reference.

Many single gene traits have been identified that are not regularlyselected for in the development of a new variety but that can beimproved by backcrossing and genetic engineering techniques. Single genetraits may or may not be transgenic, examples of these traits includebut are not limited to: herbicide resistance; resistance to bacterial,fungal or viral disease; insect resistance; uniformity or increase inconcentration of starch and other carbohydrates; enhanced nutritionalquality; decrease in tendency of tuber to bruise; and decrease in therate of starch conversion to sugars. These genes are generally inheritedthrough the nucleus. Several of these single gene traits are describedin U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,365, U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,756, U.S. Pat. No.5,789,657, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,612, U.S. Pat.No. 5,510,253, U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,730, U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,429, U.S.Pat. No. 5,503,999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,249, U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,912,U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,533, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,268, U.S. Pat. No.4,900,676, U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,434 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,168, thedisclosures of which are specifically hereby incorporated by reference.

Deposit Information

A deposit of the potato variety, FL 2027, propagating material ismaintained by Frito-Lay, Inc., at the Research Facility in Rhinelander,Wis. Access to this deposit will be available during the pendency ofthis application to persons determined by the Commissioner of Patentsand Trademarks to be entitled thereto under 37 CFR 1.14 and 35 USC 122.Upon allowance of any claims in this application, all restrictions onthe availability to the public of the variety will be irrevocablyremoved by affording access to a deposit of at least 25 vials ofgermplasm of the same variety with the American Type Culture Collection,Manassas, Va., or another acceptable depository.

Hereinabove has been set out a new variety of potato, Solanum tuberosum,designated as FL 2027, including its physical characteristics andqualities by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity andunderstanding. It will be obvious that variations are possible withinthe scope of this invention, as limited only by the scope of theappended claims.

1. A tuber, or part of a tuber, of potato cultivar FL 2027, wherein arepresentative sample of tubers has been deposited under ATCC AccessionNo. PTA-6212.
 2. A potato plant, or a part thereof, produced by growingthe tuber, or a part of the tuber, of claim
 1. 3. Pollen of the plant ofclaim
 2. 4. An ovule of the plant of claim
 2. 5. A potato plant havingall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of the plantof claim
 2. 6. A tissue culture of the plant of claim
 2. 7. A potatoplant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 6, wherein said planthas all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of thepotato plant grown from potato tuber FL
 2027. 8. A potato seed producedby growing the potato tuber, or a part of the tuber, of claim
 1. 9. Apotato plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing the seed of claim8.
 10. A potato plant regenerated from tissue culture of the plant ofclaim 9, wherein said plant has all the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of the potato plant grown from potato tuber FL
 2027. 11.A method for producing a hybrid potato seed wherein the method comprisescrossing a first parent potato plant with a second parent potato plantand harvesting the resultant hybrid potato seed, wherein said firstparent potato plant or second parent potato plant or both said firstpotato plant and second potato plant is the potato plant of claim 2.12-14. (canceled)
 15. A method for producing a hybrid potato seedwherein the method comprises crossing a first parent potato plant with asecond parent potato plant and harvesting the resultant hybrid potatoseed, wherein said first parent potato plant or second parent potatoplant is the potato plant of claim
 9. 16-31. (canceled)
 32. A method forproducing a potato plant that contains in its genetic material one ormore transgenes wherein the method comprises crossing the potato plantof claim 2 with either a second plant of another potato variety whichcontains a transqene, or a transformed potato plant of the potatovariety FL 2027, so that the genetic material of the progeny that resultfrom the cross contains the transgene(s) operably linked to a regulatoryelement.
 33. Potato plants, or parts thereof, produced by the method ofclaim
 32. 34. A method of producing an herbicide resistant potato plantwherein the method comprises transforming the potato plant of claim 2with a transgene that confers herbicide resistance.
 35. An herbicideresistant potato plant produced by the method of claim
 34. 36. A methodof producing an insect resistant potato plant wherein the methodcomprises transforming the potato plant of claim 2 with a transgene thatconfers insect resistance.
 37. An insect resistant potato plant producedby the method of claim
 36. 38. A method of producing a disease resistantpotato plant wherein the method comprises transforming the potato plantof claim 2 with a transgene that confers disease resistance.
 39. Adisease resistant potato plant produced by the method of claim
 38. 40. Amethod of producing a potato plant with modified carbohydrate metabolismwherein the method comprises transforming the potato plant of claim 2with one or more transgenes encoding an enzyme selected from the groupconsisting of phosphofructokinase, α-amylase and ADP-glucosepyrophosphorylase or with a transgene encoding an antisense α-amylasemRNA.
 41. A potato plant with modified carbohydrate metabolism producedby the method of claim 40.